Five More Cereals Based on Things

Last month we visited "Five Yummy Cereals You Forgot About" and I got some requests for more forgotten gems from our breakfast bowls. Brian in CA had space in his brain to remember this movie tie-in from the 1991 Kevin Costner film "Robin Hood and the Prince of Thieves." This is probably the only cereal based on a Kevin Costner movie, unless there was a Waterworld cereal I don't know about. One more lame thing about merchandising for this movie was the Robin Hood Tree House playset which was actually the old Ewoks Tree House Playset in a different box.

Back in the days when every cartoon character got his or her own cereal, this strawberry laced treat hit breakfast tables. I'm sure a box of this sweetness never made it's way into our house since I don't have sisters, but then again maybe it did. That's exactly the kind of thing I would have done just to tick off my dad!

Dunkin Donuts cereal was filled with so much sugar, the day after we went grocery shopping I opened the cupboard to get out the cereal and the entire back corner of our kitchen was covered in ants! The Dunkin Donuts cereal box was filled with millions of ants! Obviously we had to throw the whole box out, and my folks wouldn't buy it for us again. Sadly, the sweet...sweet taste of Dunkin' Donuts cereal will be one I never experience.

Two things about C3-P0's: their shape had nothing to do with anything at all relating to Star Wars. They were shaped like little oblong 8's!?!? I don't remember what that was all about. The second thing is that not too long after C3-PO's stopped showing up on the shelves, Kellogg's repackaged the exact same cereal as some cruddy health cereal. Either way, it was based on Star Wars and it came with cut-out Star Wars Character masks on the back of each box!

This was probably the last obligatory cartoon character cereal. The Bart Simpson flavor shown here was Peanut Butter and Chocolate. There was also a Homer Simpson flavor that was Cinnamon Glazed Donut flavor! Mmmmm...artificial donut flavored cereal!!!!

Elias: Car Salesman

Here's Elias showing off his brand new Cars toys. We got two Fisher-Price Shake 'N Go Cars: Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy).

Tom Cruise is a Jerk

Tom Cruise was running around Rome earlier this week promoting his new movie and telling everyone about how much he loved fatherhood and how great a father he is...yap, yap, yap, yap-yap! This all happened THREE days after his new baby was born! THREE!!!! Come on Tom, even the bag boy at Sav-On takes a week or two off after his girlfriend has a baby!

It just cracks me up that he's standing there in front of the press smiling from ear to ear about how great a father he is, when he is thousands of miles away and on the other side of the globe from his 96-hour old baby! I didn't even leave the hospital for three days after my wife gave birth to our first son! And was this trip to Rome really necessary?

First of all, he's promoting Mission: Impossible 3. The reason there is a three in the title is because there were two other movies just like it that made a boat-load of cash. It doesn't really need promoting...it's what they call a sure thing! What else are they going to do in Rome!? At this point they've all seen the Coliseum and that fountain!

Second, does Tom Cruise really need to worry if MI3 does well or not. As I said, it's a given that the movie is going to rake in the dough...but Tom Cruise is already a multi-millionaire! The opening weekend gross at the Rome AMC 15 isn't going to make or break the Cruise family. He probably hasn't even touched money he's made 10 years ago. He's still dipping into the Interview with the Vampire money!

And then to top it all off, he told all the reporters in Rome that he was only going to be there for eight hours and then he was going to fly back home to be with Katie and the baby. Next thing you know, he's promoting his stupid movie in Paris and London for the next couple of days. Give me a break! My wife was mad at me because I spent too much time at Wal-Mart the week after our baby was born!

Mr. Cruise, I'm sure you're a great provider but you are not being a good father! Your silly car chase and explosions movie will do just fine without you. Now go home, be with your child and your child-bride and start filling that baby's head with all that Scientology mumbo-jumbo you seduced Joey Potter with!

Everyone's Fine

Tanner is gaining weight! His spit-up output continues to be a roller coaster, last week there was very little but this weekend has been pretty bad. But the good news is that Tanner is has put on a few pounds in the past week. He went to the doctors this week and weighed 12 lbs. 12 oz! So they say he is back on track for getting to where he should be on the growth scale!

Elias had his first big tumble down the stairs this week. It scared the hell out of him...and me, but he was alright. We have 14 steps from the top floor to the main level of the house, and I think he fell all the way from the top! Luckily all he had to show for it was a couple of rug burn marks on his forehead!

Jennifer and I got to go out and be adults for the third time in one month! Can you believe it! We literally have been out more this April then we have the entire time we've been married! We just went to a restaurant and bar with a handful of friends, but it was a good time. We were introduced to the game of Bud Pong, which is essentially tossing ping pong balls into plastic cups of water. An interesting way to spend the evening. There's a few pointless pictures in the Photo Album if you wanna see!!!

Cars Shopping Spree!

Elias and I are both looking forward to the upcoming Disney/Pixar animated film "Cars" (which opens June 9.) One of the fun things about a big summer blockbuster is all the merchandising and product tie-ins for the movie. Now that I have children, I have the perfect excuse to buy lots of silly Cars stuff. Actually, Elias is really into the whole thing. I got him a Cars book last week that he makes me read to him at least twice daily. So today at Wal-Mart we stocked up on all the movie merchandising we could get our hands on!

First we started off with the outfit. It's not a summer blockbuster unless you can buy clothing plugging the movie. And it's not a kids film if there aren't tons of outfits for the little ones. The problem with the Cars outfits is that some of them look way too "NASCAR" which I guess makes sense considering the movie is about car racing. But, this shirt and matching shorts that we got him aren't too bad looking!

Next we had to get a box of Keebler Bumper Bites Grahams Crackers. Guess what? They are shaped like little cars! I always say with food tie-ins, it's all in the shape! , Well played Keebler Elves, well played!

Elias was also thrilled to get sandals with his buddy Lightning McQueen on the them! He didn't want to take them off in the store after we tried them on! He rode around Wal-Mart in the shopping cart clutching the shoebox they came in. Later, when we got home and I put the sandals on him to take this picture and he didn't want to wear them for more than 30 seconds!?!


Finally, we stocked up on Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies as most of the Kellogg's brand cereals actually have a free prize inside the box. Cereal premiums are almost a dead art-form, but Kellogg's has got Cars Racers inside specially marked boxes! We got Lightning McQueen in the Rice Krispies and Luigi in the Flakes! When you pull them back on the floor and then let them go, they race across the floor. Pretty cool!!

This weekend we're going to go to Toys R Us to see if they have any of the actual toys out yet! It's fun being a kid...I mean, an adult...!?

Asleep at the Wheel

For those of you that have been on a long car ride with me, you might title this picture "Like Father, Like Son!" We wore Elias out today shopping at BJ's.

Today was also an historical day in my medical history. I went to see a new doctor today, a chiropractor to be exact. And for the first time ever in an initial visit with a doctor he didn't tell me that the problem was that I was fat! Wow! Twenty-some years going to the Columbia Medical Plan and the only diagnosis I ever head was: "You're Fat!" Trouble breathing, Mono, sprained ankle...all met with a "You're Fat!"

Yesterday while I was playing with the kids, Elias took a rattle and said, "I want to slap Baby Tanner!" "No," I said, "It's not nice to hit people. People don't like to be slapped!" To which Elias replied, "Girls do!" I'm not sure where he got that from, but just to be careful he's not allowed to watch Cinemax anymore!

Hanover Charming Sight of the Week: Pale White Shirtless Fat Guy with Large Cowboy Hat on directing traffic while a truck backs up!

McDonald's Taste Test Dept. New Asian Salad is disgusting! Nothing from McDonalds (or any fast food restaurant) should have Snap Peas in it!

An Inconvenient Truth - Trailer

Here-a-Blog...There-a-Blog...

There's some new pictures in the photo album from a birthday party Elias, Tanner and I went to this weekend. The party was for Bridget, who is the daughter of a friend of mine, Theresa. Theresa and I worked together at Port Discovery for several years and then I got her a job at Crayola Works not too long after I left Port Discovery (for the last time!) It was cool to see people from both jobs at the party, as well as getting to meet Bridget - who just turned one! She had a Disney Princess themed party, and I'm pretty sure they had every single Princess party supply and paper good that Disney has ever ok'ed! Good Times!

And...if you're getting more and more jazzed about Disney/Pixar's Cars, check out this blog entry at Route 66 News. It's an exclusive sneak peak at some of the art work from the movie! The attention to detail is awesome!

Stamps & Sunshine

The United States Postal Service releases their newest set of Disney stamps today, after an unveiling yesterday at Walt Disney World. The new stamps feature some of Disney's greatest romantic couples.

I was going to comment that Cinderella and Prince Charming look a bit too "cartoony" compared to their appearance in the movie, but now that I give the Mickey and Minnie stamp a closer look I've got a problem with it! That is a 1920's Minnie, with the flower in her hat, the way the face in drawn and the absence of a shirt. But that is definitely a more modern Mickey Mouse, with the rounder face and body. That Mickey and Minnie would have never appeared together.

Either way, they beat stamps featuring flowers or old cars! Stop by your local post office and pick some up today if you still have any reason to use the postal service!

Also, check out this hotel that Jennifer and I are staying at in Tampa, Florida at the end of next month when we go to a wedding! Jen's best friend from high school, Kassy, is getting married on the beach in Clearwater. We're very excited about going and have splurged on a suite in this hotel which is way fancier then the kind of hotels were used to staying at! The pool has a waterfall in it, which pretty much sealed the deal for us! My mom is watching the kids for the weekend, so it's just Jen and I on our own for the first time in many...MANY...years. We're flying down Saturday morning, the wedding and a dinner are Saturday night, and then we've got Sunday to ourselves and we're coming back Monday morning. It should be totally cool.

I'm hoping I'll be able to post some pictures and reports while we're down there! This will be my 19th trip to Florida, but the first not involving Disney World! (Unless I can talk Jen into driving over there Sunday!)

Summer Movie Season

With the big summer movie season just around the corner I was thinking to myself that there was only about 3 movies I knew off that I was really "excited" about seeing. Well, Entertainment Weekly's annual Summer Movie Preview arrived in my mailbox today...and I was right. There isn't too much I'm looking forward too this summer! Here's a preview of some of the flicks coming to the multiplex this summer:

Mission: Impossible III (5/5) I continue to not care less about this franchise, I've never seen a frame of the other two and I don't plan on starting with this one! I predict that this is the beginning of the end for Mr. Cruise. We're all sick and tired of hearing about his looney girlfriend, his looney baby and his even loonier religion! Plus, Mr. Cruise, you owe me the two and half hours of my life you took last summer with that War of the Worlds piece of junk!

X-Men: The Last Stand (5/26) Same kind of applies here as with MI:3, ain't jumping on board for this one. I'm sure the video game based on the movie is great, HOLLER!, but besides X-Men Candy Sticks I don't have much interest in this group of....Superheros!? What are they!? I don't even know...Mutant Superheors or something!? Whatever!

Over the Hedge (5/19) Now that we know that Dreamworks animated films are just silly comedies and not the works of art Disney animated films are, I might be able to enjoy this film. It's a CG cartoon with animals that do wacky things and it has a great voice cast: Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Bruce Willis, and Avril Lavigne.

Poseidon (5/12) This is another film version of the novel The Poseidon Adventure. You know it's more intense than the 1972 version because they dropped the word "Adventure". So take that! It's about a big cruise ship that sinks! It was directed by Wolfgang Petersen who also did "The Perfect Storm," was to go out on a limb there, Wolfie! It's Crap!

Just My Luck (5/12) Pros: Stars Lindsay Lohan. Cons: Not a remake of a silly old Disney film. Verdict: I'd still see it!

The DaVinci Code (5/19) My wife and I have earmarked this as the one "grown-up" movie that we are going to try and go see this summer. After watching 78,000 stories on the Today Show about this book, I'm kind of intrigued to find out what it's about! Not enough to actually read the book, but enough to go see the movie! I did read the last book Tom Hanks made into a movie: The Polar Express.

Hoot (5/5) I saw the trailer for this movie the other day and thought it looked kind of cute. It's about some kids who band together to stop some evil land developers from tearing up some land that is home to endangered owls. Even though I hate owls, I love stories with evil land developers! Plus it's got Jimmy Buffett as the kids teacher, and I just found out it was based on the book by Carl Hiaasen. Now I have read some of his stuff so I get points for that! I might have to move this movie to my "must-see" list!

Superman Returns (6/30)Superman is basically a cartoon character and an American Icon just like my boy Mickey! So, I kind of feel for the guy. And, just like everyone else my age I grew up watching the Christopher Reeves movies. And, like every guy...deep down inside I think Superman is a cool dude! So, it's got a lot going for it, plus the cast includes Kate Bosworth (so hot,) Parker Posey, and screen legend Eva Marie Saint.

Nacho Libre (6/16) Jack Black stars as a....I'm sorry, did you say Jack Black!?!...NO THANK YOU!

Cars (6/9) This is the one that I'm most excited to see! I loved all the Pixar films up until The Incredibles, I was very disappointed with that one. But I'm ready to embrace Pixar again with open arms. Plus it will be very fun because my 2 1/2 year old son is VERY excited to see it as well! The cast features Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, and Larry the Cable Guy. There's a line up!

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (6/16) Are you %&#$in' kidding me!?

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (6/16) The only thing unfunnier than the last 15 years of the Garfield comic strip will be this sequel.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7) Part of what made the original so great was that it was way better than anyone thought it would be. Can they do that again!? It's the same director and cast as the 2003 movie, so maybe they can. I just hope they are still able to incorporate aspects of the Disneyland ride into the movie.

Miami Vice 7/28) When you think of Miami Vice, what do you think of!? The song, right!? Well...there's no song here! Second clue of disaster: the director is quoted as saying, "We're doing Miami Vice as if there never had been a television series." Really? Because there was a television series, and that's why people would go see a movie BASED on a television series! Idiots! Flop!

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (8/4) Will Farrell as a NASCAR driver, `nuff said! My wife and I saw this trailer on TV the other day and laughed out loud through the entire thing! It's from the same director as Anchorman, so it's off the a good start right there!

Snakes on a Plane (8/28)Like everybody else, all I really know about this movie is that it stars Samuel L. Jackson and it's called Snakes on a Plane. I think this one is going to be huge. If you don't believe me, Google the title and look at all the internet buzz on this flick! It's got snakes, you see, and they are on some sort of plane!!!

Any flicks you're excited to see this summer!? Feel free to comment!?

Hollywood Party

Hollywood Party is a 1934 MGM Musical staring Jimmy Durante that I have been wanting to see for a very long time. It's not on DVD and extremely rare on VHS. When I first got my TiVo in 2002, I set it up to automatically record this movie if it were to ever come on! About two weeks ago Turner Classic Movies aired the movie at 9am, and I finally got to sit down and watch it last night!

Why am I so interested in seeing Hollywood Party. Look at the bottom left hand corner of the movie poster. That's right, it's our good ol' friend Mickey Mouse! Hollywood Party has the dictinction of being one of the only films NOT produced by the Walt Disney Studios that Mickey Mouse appeared in.

In the movie, Jimmy Durante (playing the role of Jimmy) throws a big Hollywood party to impress the visiting Baron Munchausen in the hopes that the Baron will allow Jimmy to use his fierce tigers in the upcoming "Schnarzan" film. That's right folks, SCHNARZAN! during the 70 minute running time of the film there are about 107 musical numbers, and numerous cameos from celebrities of the day...the most notable being The Three Stooges. About half way through the party, and 50 minutes into the movie, a lady screams "Mouse!" and everyone starts to run and scream! Jimmy Durante investigates and tells everyone not to worry. He picks an animated Mickey Mouse up off the floor by the tail and sets him down on a table that is conveniently in front of a plain-white wall. Mickey is on screen for all of a minute (at best) and trades a few jokes with Durante. Then Mickey pulls up a cartoon piano and begins to play. Then, for whatever reason, the movie just stops and they play a color cartoon that has nothing to do with anything in the movie.

The cartoon is called "Chocolate Soldiers" and is basically a Walt Disney Silly Symphony. It's not bad, but it's not a very good Silly Symphony either. When the cartoon is over, the movie goes back to Black and White and Mickey is gone and there is no mention of him for the rest of the movie.

I was pretty bummed that I spent almost an hour watching goofy musical numbers and jokes anyone under the age of 105 wouldn't get, all to see about 6 minutes of below average Disney animation! Luckily after the Mickey segment and another 7 to 8 musical numbers, Laurel & Hardy show up and stick around for the rest of the film! They have a great bit with some lady and cracking eggs in their hats. It's funny, trust me! Then before you know it, the movie is over...I'm not sure if Jimmy Durante got his tigers or not, but I really didn't care!

The Disney segment of the film had been edited out for television screenings in the 60's and then was believed to be lost! I was keeping my fingers crossed that the animated part was edited back in, and I'm glad it was otherwise I would have completely lost an hour of my life!

Laurel and Hardy are comedy geniuses, by the way. Go rent one of their movies!

Baby News, Movie News

First, some baby news! My good friend Brian Kaiser was excited to tell me that he and his wife Jenae are expecting their first child this fall! Congratulations to both of them! If you don't know Brian personally, you might remember him as Devon and/or Producer Brian from TV's The Ed South Show. Brian and Jenae live in California now, where Brian works as a Video Game Designer and Jenae is employed at the local children's museum.

Believe it or not, I was actually able to go to a movie yesterday! I had been eagerly awaiting Scary Movie 4, which is directed by one of my favorite directors - David Zucker. The film is very enjoyable and pokes fun at The Grudge, The Village, Saw, Brokeback Mountain, Million Dollar Baby, and mostly War of the Worlds. There are some really funny, clever bits in the film along with a little too much potty humor and slapstick. But, it's all in good fun!

David Zucker co-directed Airplane! and Top Secret and did The Naked Gun. He also took over the Scary Movie franchise with Scary Movie 3 after the Wayans Brothers SM2's horrible box office performance. Scary Movie 4 was the number one movie this past weekend, grossing something like $42 million! Today the studio announced they plan on having Scary Movie 5 in theatres next Easter weekend, with David Zucker again in the directors chair! Yeah!!!!

Five Yummy Cereals You Forgot About

One thing that I was always appreciative of when I was a kid was that I didn't have the kind of parents that only let their kids eat the boring non-cartoon cereal. When I was a kid, breakfast cereal selection was based on one thing...and one thing only...what prize was in the box. And you can ask my wife, things haven't changed much to this day! Since I was never loyal to one brand of cereal, I've sampled so many over the years. Here's a look back at a few short lived, but loved cereals that I shared my childhood mornings with.

The key to a good "tie-in" cereal is how well the shape of the cereal fits into the world of the license its based on. In the video game, Donkey Kong threw barrels at Mario, so what a perfect shape for the cereal that little crunchy sweet barrels of corn. Man, those things were good! They were kind of like Capt. Crunch but I think they had twice as much sugar so they could compete with the ol' Capt. There was a game on the back of the box that looked like the video game, and you would use to cereal pieces to go through a maze. Awesome!

See, when you bought a Nintendo you got a cartridge that came with the system that had Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt on it. So the cereal based on the video game system had two kind of cereal in it! You could pick out just the one box of cereal, but you actually had two different choices each morning. Then after a week or so, you'd just go for it and pour BOTH flavors into the same bowl! It was like creating your own cereal! I don't think the cereal was really that good...but it was just cool that it came in two flavors!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisp is still around today, and they just added Peanut Butter flavor too. But when Cookie Crisp was first introduced I was partial to the Vanilla Wafer flavor. My brother liked the Chocolate Chip kind, and would always pick that as his cereal and that I would get the Vanilla Waffer box and we thought it was pretty cool that we had two boxes of Cookie Crisp in the cupboard. ( We were obviously easily entertained.) The vanilla flavor didn't last long, and I always resented the chocolate chip flavor surviving all these years! By the way, Jarvis the wizard could kick the crap out of the Cookie Crook and the Cookie Dog thing!

I couldn't possibly find a smaller picture of this cereal if I tried, however I also couldn't find a bigger picture. I don't remember which came first: Nerds Cereal or the Nintendo Cereal, but either way one of them was just created to get more use out of the "two sided box" machine at the Ralston plant. These were really good...they looked like the Nerds Candy and the box was just like the candy box. Execpt after using the complicated two sided box top for a week, the whole top of the box was so beat up you couldn't close either side! That's when you just poured them both into the same bowl! (That was power!) I don't think there were too many other Orange flavored cereals out there!

I can't believe I couldn't find a decent picture of Gremlins brand cereal anywhere on the internet. I did however find this scan of a coupon that never expires, so if one year my birthday wish comes true and Gremlins cereal finds it's way back onto our grocers shelves, we all save fifteen cents! Whoo-hoo! Seriously, this cereal and I were a match made in heaven! I was obsessed with Gremlins in the summer of 1984! I ate a big ol' bowl of these bad boys every morning before I put on my Gremlins painters cap and went outside to trade Gremlins trading cards with the girl across the street. The cereal was shaped like little Gizmos. It would have been cool if you only had to put one piece of cereal in your bowl and then add milk and the cereal would multiply...but it didn't work out that way! Still, a great cereal and If I recall correctly they kept making it long after the popularity of the movie fizzled out. Because it was so damn good!

Comment on some of your favorite childhood cereals!

Easter Weekend

All kinds of Easter festivities this weekend! Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt with Pop-Pop and Marie which was sponsored by their church. Elias had a great time running around looking for eggs and playing with his cousins. Tanner just enjoyed being outside.

Sunday morning was, of course, Easter Basket time! Elias was thrilled to find a brand new light saber of his own! Now he doesn't have to steal Joey's! Tanner had fun with all the cute little things
he got. Joey is too cool to care about Easter baskets!

Later in the morning, we went to Jen's grandma's house for a delicious breakfast of quiche, bacon, and fresh baked English Muffin Bread. Good Eats! After breakfast was another Easter Egg Hunt that Elias wasn't too interested in because there was nothing inside the eggs!

In the afternoon we went to Grammy's (my mom) house for a fantastic Easter dinner! We had ham and macaroni and cheese and more fresh baked bread. Later on, Elias had his third Easter Egg Hunt of the weekend. He had fun looking for eggs with Grammy!

We had beautiful weather all weekend long! Hope you had a great Easter weekend as well!

Tax Break

Not to throw too much Tanner at ya in one week, but Tanner got this nice new bib as a gift when we took him with us to get our taxes done today. I thought it was kind of funny.

By the way, it took over two hours for H&R Block to do our very simple tax return. That might seem like alot of time, but considering the guy that did our taxes had only seen a computer keyboard for the first time that morning...we did pretty good!

Tanner Thinks It's Funny

There's not a whole lot Tanner can do at 4 months old, but growing up in our household he's learned to really chuckle at an early age! Here's a quick little video of Tanner laughing at mommy.

Big Tuesday

Well, yesterday was the big day for Tanner's appointment at Johns Hopkins. First of all, let me say, were more people at that hospital then the entire population of Hanover, PA! Anywho, we met with a very nice doctor who asked us a million questions and checked Tanner out from head to toe. (She even gave him a little baby rectal exam!) She told us 100 things that usually cause babies to have excessive spit up and that none of those things seem to be in play with Tanner. Basically, we're just going to have to ride it out. The doctor did give us some new medicine to see if that changes things.

Even though we really didn't get any answers, we were satisfied with the visit. I mean, we're at Johns Hopkins! You got doctors there that are at the top of their field and this doctor took her time and really talked to us and pretty much spelled everything out for us! So for now, it looks like we will have to continue to carry Tanner around with beach towel and always be prepared to be spit up on! The good news is that in most babies the spit up dies down between 4-6 months and Tanner just turned 4 months, so maybe the end is in sight!

All kidding aside, it really makes you appreciate your health and your children's health when you see some of the other kids that were sitting in the waiting room. It makes a spit up problem seem pretty insignificant!

On a lighter note, last night a group of us went to the comedy night at Rafael's in Westminster where my friend Jimmy Meritt was performing. The show started off on a pretty rocky note. The MC wasn't very good and didn't really get the audience all that excited. Then the first comic sucked which made it even harder for the second comedian to win over the room. He was funny, but the crowd just wasn't with him. Luckily, the show organizer took over the MCing duties and got the room's attention and back in the mood for comedy. Jimmy took the mic and rocked a fairly long set. Our table was all the way in the back, and we were all laughing hysterically and trying to get the rest of the room in the mood but between the drunks at the bar talking as loud as they could, and the TV's showing House and CSI, it was un uphill battle for Mr. Meritt.

In the end, Jimmy made the best of the tough crowd and he closed the show on a good note! Jimmy was a little disappointed that I finally was able to bring a table full of people to a show and this was the show we came to! But we all had a good time, and that's all the matters in the end! Hopefully Jimmy will do better next week when he opens for Kevin Nealon at the Improv.

As always, you can see lots of silly pictures from our evening in the Photo Album. I was really there, I just snapped all the pictures!

Why I Hate Koala Bears

Everyone thinks Koala Bears are cute and cuddly, but I hate them. First of all, they aren't really bears. They are marsupials. I don't have anything against marsupials but you should never trust an animal that pretends to be something it isn't. Panda Bears are cute too, but they aren't bears either...they are raccoons. In my book, raccoons are evil and a raccoon the size of a Ford Festiva is even more evil. If Koalas really wanted to be bears they should at least try to eat some honey.

Many people would like to hug a koala because they are so cute. Well, have you ever looked at a koala's hands!? They have huge sharp, razor-like claws that would pierce into your flesh if you tried to hug one of those things! That's not fair! You're just trying to show the koala a little love and he digs into your internal organs. That just doesn't seem right.

Koalas also have two thumbs on each hand! What do they need four thumbs for!? People have gotten along with only one thumb per hand for years, and we're doing fine! The extra thumb is probably for extra grip when the koala is digging into your skin and drawling blood while you're trying to hug it!

Koala bears live on a diet of eucalyptus leaves. Eucalyptus leaves contain dangerous poisons and toxins that make them inedible to most mammals, but the cute ol' devil koala has no problem chomping them down. Perhaps the most telling sign of the koala's unearthly powers.

Then let's get to the beak thing. Is that a beak or a big nose? I'm pretty sure it's a beak and I don't think animals should be allowed to have beaks. Animals are pretty careless with their beaks and have no respect for human eyes. Why do you think so many pirates wear an eyepatch!? True, it's their own fault for putting parrots on their shoulders, but you'd think a parrot would be a little more respectful to someone who gives him crackers all day! Either way, I'm not getting anywhere near a koala mouth anytime soon.

In summary: Koala Bears - liars, two many thumbs, immune to acid, irresponsible with beaks, and sent straight from the devil! Next time you go to hug a koala bear and you get ripped to shreds, don't say I didn't warn you!

Bunnies & Dummies

We did the Easter Bunny thing at the mall the other day. Elias was scared at first, but then we couldn't get him to leave when we were done. Tanner had no idea what was going on...the whole nine yards! Nothing new! Now, instead of trying to sell you a ton of overpriced pictures, they try and talk you into paying for the copyright release form so you have their "permission" to make copies of the picture...OF YOUR CHILD...yourself! That's idiotic! You don't snap a picture of my children sitting on some guys lap in a lame rabbit costume and tell me YOU own the copyright on it! You wanna own the copyright on my children's memories then you can pay for college!

There are some more Easter Bunny photos in the photo album.

In the Dummies Department: If you've been reading along here you know that we've got an appointment to take Tanner to a Pediatric GI specialist at Johns Hopkins to find out why he spits up everything he eats. Our FORMER doctor told us in January that the earliest he could get us an appointment was April 11. So, we've been waiting for April 11 to roll around so we can get some answers. Earlier this week, I called down to Hopkins to find out what time the appointment was, because the (FORMER) doctor's office never bothered to tell us what time the appointment was. Well, guess what I found out when I called down there...? That's right, our stupid doctor never made an appointment for Tanner. They didn't have Tanner anywhere in their system. Everyone at Hopkins was very nice, and they transferred me to three different places trying to find if there was an appointment for Tanner anywhere...but there wasn't!

Of course, we explained our story to someone on the phone at Hopkins and we weren't mad with them...it wasn't their fault. The next day someone called us back from Hopkins and said they had heard what happened and they would be able to squeeze us in on April 11, even though this doctor doesn't usually take appointments on Tuesdays because she doesn't have office hours on Tuesdays!

So, our (former) doctor's office swears they made the appointment on April 11. Isn't it funny that they think we had an appointment with a doctor who doesn't take appointments on that day of the week. And it's odd that in January, April was the soonest they could get us in, but here it is April and they can see us next week!!?!

DUMB!

100 Movies I Love!

Here's a list of 100 movies that I love. They are not ALL the movies that I love, but this list is probably close to what my list of 100 Favorite Movies would look like. The first ten are my 10 Favorite movies, after that they are just in alphabetical order. Feel free to print the list and let it guide you through your next visit to the video store.

1. The Cannonball Run (1981)
2. The Little Mermaid (1989)
3. Gremlins (1984)
4. Spice World (1998)
5. Popeye (1980)
6. Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
7. Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991)
8. UHF (1989)
9. Cry Baby (1990)
10. Who's That Girl (1987)


-Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
-Airplane! (1980)
-Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
-Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
-Amy (1981)
-And Now For Something Completely Different (1972)
-Angel (1984)
-Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978)
-Back to the Beach (1987)
-The Barefoot Executive (1971)
-BASEketball (1998)
-Beauty and the Beast (1991)
-Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)
-Blazing Saddles (1974)
-Blind Date (1987)
-A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)
-The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
-Caddyshack (1980)
-Center Stage (2000)
-Chasing Amy (1997)
-Cheetah (1989)
-C.H.O.M.P.S. (1979)
-Cinderella (1950)
-Clerks (1994)
-Clueless (1995)
-Ducktales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990)
-Dumbo (1941)
-Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
-Ernest Rides Again (1993)
-The Flintstones (1994)
-Freaky Friday (1976)
-From Justin to Kelly (2003)
-Goin' Coconuts (1978)
-A Goofy Movie (1995)
-The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
-Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
-Gus (1976)
-Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)
-Hexed (1993)
-History of the World part 1 (1981)
-Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
-How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980)
-In & Out (1997)
-The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)
-Jawbreaker (1999)
-Jaws III (1982)
-Jetsons The Movie (1990)
-Jimmy The Kid (1982)
-Johnny Dangerously (1985)
-Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
-Joysticks (1983)
-The Jungle Book (1967)
-The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
-Kidco (1984)
-Lilo & Stitch (2002)
-Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
-The Love Bug (1969)
-Man in the Moon (1991)
-The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
-Masters of the Universe (1987)
-Monsters, Inc. (2001)
-The Muppet Movie (1979)
-The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
-National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
-National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
-National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
-9 to 5 (1980)
-Office Space (1999)
-Police Academy (1984)
-Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)
-Prancer (1989)
-Psycho (1960)
-Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1998)
-Return to Neverland (2002)
-Rollercoaster (1977)
-Rustler's Rhapsody (1985)
-Serial Mom (1993)
-Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985)
-Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
-The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1982)
-Snowball Express (1972)
-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
-Spaceship (1983)
-Speed Zone (1989)
-St. Helens (1981)
-Starhops (1978)
-Summer Magic (1963)
-10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
-Top Secret (1984)
-The Vanishing Prairie (1954)
-A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
-The World's Greatest Athlete (1973)
-Xanadu (1980)
-Young Doctors in Love (1982)

Those are some great movies! How many have you seen!? Have you even heard of half of them!? Leave your comments about the films on this list!

Disney World Plug

As you may or may not know I am an Authorized Disney Vacation Specialist which basically means that I specialize in planning and booking trips to Disney's U.S. Vacation spots! From time to time I'll have access to some great deals that Disney only offers through travel agents. I thought this would be a good place to share some of the deals I can get, but don't worry...I'm not turning this blog into a business website for me to make money off of.


This package price lets you stay right in the middle of the magic of Walt Disney World. You'll get Theme Park Admission tickets for one of Disney's four theme parks every day of your stay. You'll also get resort benefits like Extra Magic Hours and Disney's Magical Express. And best of all...you'll get the Disney Dining Plan FREE!!! That's one counter service meal, one table service meal, and a snack every day of your vacation....FREE!!!

The Disney Dining Plan is a great deal at it's full price, so it's an even better deal when it's FREE!!!

This special price is for vacations traveling between 8/13/06 and 9/30/06. To take advantage of this special deal you must book before June 4, 2006.

If you are interested in finding out more about this Walt Disney World Resort Vacation Package, just drop me an e-mail. I'll be glad to answer any questions or give you a call, if you like.

Ed South's Comedy Spotlight Tour 2006

Ed South's Comedy Spotlight Tour 2006 is rolling into Westminster, MD! Ok...I'm not actually in the show, nor did I have anything to do with putting it together or ever booking it in Westminster...but I know a handful of World o' Blog readers are already planning on going so that's my contribution and therefore I'm calling it Ed South's Comedy Spotlight Tour 2006!

My good friend Jimmy Meritt is bringing his fantastic stand-up comedy act to the new comedy night at Rafael's Restaurant in Westminster on Tuesday, April 11. The show starts at 9:00pm, but Jimmy told me that you should get there at least a half hour early as the room was packed by showtime the last time he played there.

I met Jimmy several years ago when we both worked for a horrible company that will remain nameless, The Picture People. I knew Jimmy and I would be good friends on his first day of work there. A song was playing over the music system and Jimmy says to me, "Isn't this the song that was playing when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man attacked in Ghostbusters 2?" Well, I knew a movie reference like that could only come from a kindred spirit! Jimmy and I later worked together at Crayola Works, where we labeled the boxes in the store room with Saturday Night Live jokes.

Jimmy's stand-up career takes him all over the D.C. and Virginia area, he doesn't do a whole lot of dates this side of the beltway, so it will be cool to have him doing his thang in Westminster for the evening. He's also performed a few dates in New York and has opened for the "Whose Line is it Anyway" tour. In a few weeks he'll be opening for Saturday Night Live's Kevin Nealon at the D.C. Improv.

If you're in the area and interested in going and meeting up with us before the show, you can zap me an e-mail or if you work with my wife you can talk to her about it at work.

Rafael's is located at 32 W. Main Street in Downtown Westminster, MD. Their telephone number is 410-840-1919. Hope to see ya there!

Saturday & Sunday

Saturday night we went to a wedding reception for one of Jennifer's co-workers, Stephanie. The wedding itself was actually in February in Las Vegas so they had a hometown celebration for all their friends and family that couldn't make it. That's really a good idea and Jennifer and I should have done the same thing as we were married in Vegas and only three people came. (And we didn't get any presents) The reception was fun. There was lots of great homecooked food and plenty of dancing and other hijinks!

After the reception, we went to a bar with a bunch of Jen's friends and we had a good time. It's been a long while since I hung out a bar...too long. Anywho, there's a handful of pictures from the evening in the ol' Wonderful World of Blog Photo Album. In case you didn't know, you can always access the photo album through the new link in the sidebar of this page. Just scroll down!

Cute little Elias story from Sunday for ya. Elias and my mother and I went to lunch at the Hanover Diner that afternoon. Elias was eating his lunch and looking a little tired. He took a french fry and smothered it in ketchup and then started sucking on it over and over again. This continued for a while, until his sucking started to slow down and he eventually fell asleep while working on his fry. Then he woke up very suddenly, as if startled, smothered the soggy fry in ketchup all over again and went back to repeatedly sucking on it. Again this continued for a while until he just passed out cold, sitting up in his chair with his french fry in his hand. He was out for the next 2 1/2 hours. Maybe it's just one of those stories you had to be there for!?!

Three Amigos

One of the cool things about having multiple children is watching them interact with each other. Elias loves Joey so much! He's always excited when Joey gets home from school, he always wants to go down to Joey's room and play video game with him. Whatever Joey is doing, Elias wants to be a part of it. When Elias was just a baby, only Joey could make him laugh. That was pretty neat.

Now, Tanner looks up to Elias in the same way. If Elias walks into the room, Tanner focuses in on him and just watches him with wide eyes. And if Joey and Elias are playing around, you can see in Tanner's face that he wants to be a part of the horseplay. It's very sweet.

And of course, Elias helping to take care of his baby brother is priceless. Elias likes to help give Baby Tanner a bath, and give him his bottles. Elias gets upset when Tanner starts to cry. "Oh No! Baby Tanner's crying!" Elias shouts. But when Tanner spits up, Elias backs up and stays clear. "Oh No, Baby Tanner...he spilled!"

Having an infant, a toddler, and a teenage can be very trying and exhausting. It's also very rewarding!

David Spade & iPods

David Spade recently kicked off the second season of his Hollywood themed Daily Show clone "The Showbiz Show with David Spade". New episodes of his show air Thursday nights at 10:30pm on Comedy Central and then are repeated 4,000 times in accordance with the FCC's basic cable laws.

The current episode made me laugh out loud several times, especially in a segment they call "There, I Said It" where Spade goes off on a rant about someone or something in the entertainment world. This week his target was iPods, and it was so brilliant and dead on that instead of quoting it or transcribing it I want you to go watch it. If you go to Comedy Central's website and scroll down just a little, you'll find the Showbiz Show section. Click on it and it will take you directly to the video of David Spade's rant on iPods. If the picture freezes, don't worry about...just listen to the audio. There isn't all the much to see anyways! But it's so funny and right on the money, I wish I had written it here weeks ago!

I don't hate iPods. I'm usually very reluctant on new technology. I was not ready to trade in my VHS for DVD eight years ago! That might be because I was still upset about all the money I sank into Laserdiscs. I thought the internet was going to be a fad and I stayed away from that for as long as I could hold out. Of course, I hoped right online when I found out you could hear the songs from Muppet Treasure Island weeks before the movie came out. And even this whole HD/wide-screen/plasma/flat screen television stuff I don't really get!?

I guess the iPod thing is ideal for people who are really into their music. I don't even think I like enough music to fill half of the smallest iPod. I like a handful of songs from the 80's, The Spice Girls, soundtracks to old Disney movies and that Since You've Been Gone song by Kelly Clarkson.

What Ever Happened to Alexander The Grape!?

What ever happened to this guy!? That was a great candy! I've never liked grape flavored anything, but I always did have a special place in my heart for Alexander The Grape. Mmmm....they were good. They were kind of like little hard candies with a somewhat softer chewy coating. They are kind of hard to describe, I guess that's what made them so great. If you've ever had a Lemonhead, Alexander The Grape is just a grape version of that candy. In fact Alexander later changed his name to Grapehead before falling off the face of the Earth!

Alexander The Grape had so many friends, each just as tasty as the last! There was Mr. Melon who tasted like watermelon....those might have been my favorite. And there was Johnny Apple Treat, kind of like Johnny Appleseed but with much more sugar. Those were good too! And who can forget Alexander's Asian friend, who managed to solve crimes while tasting like delicious sweet artificial cherries, yes...we're talking about Cherry Chan. Cherry Chan's name was written on the box with the exact same faux-Chinese font that got McDonald's into a heap of trouble when they had their Oriental McNuggets. Man, Cherry Chan was awesome! They were better than real cherries! I'd never take a Cherry Chan off my sundae!

These candies and many more were produced by the Ferrara Pan company of Forest Park, IL. Ferrara Pan is still around today. They continue to manufacture Lemonheads, as well as some other classic candy like Jawbusters, Atomic Fireballs, and Boston Baked Beans. Mmmm...those Boston Baked Beans were good too, I haven't seen them in a while! They used to make another great candy called Fruit Cocktail Imperials, but those are also sadly out of production.

All their candy used to come in small boxes and would sell for ten cents. This is still in the early 80's I'm talking about! We used to ride our bikes down to the old Funn-Putt (not Putt-Putt) mini golf course in the Oakland Mills Shopping Center and get all sorts of boxes of candy with our spare change that we could dig up! We'd eat some right away, and then save some boxes for later. We would trade...a couple of Cherry Chans for a few Mr. Melons. Good times! Do kids today get these experiences!? I guess they can still ride their bikes to the 7-11 or Highs, but it's not the same as a little mom and pop store! And you can't get anything for a dime anymore....at a 7-11? Forget about it! Not that a box of grape candy would satisfy a child today anyways. Nowadays they probably ride their bikes down to the corner store for some Red Bull and Altoids!

It's just another thing these kids today are missing out on! Don't even get me started on prizes in cereal boxes and Saturday morning cartoons! ....Man, I could really go for a Cherry Chan right about now!

Kings Dominion & Hanna-Barbera

In the good ol' days Kings Dominion and Hanna-Barbera went together like Disneyland and Mickey Mouse. If you bought a Kings Dominion T-shirt it had Yogi Bear on it. If you were getting your picture taken with a costumed character it could have been Scooby-Doo or even Captain Caveman. And at the end of the day when you were looking for your car in the parking lot, your car could have been parked in George Jetson row 3 or Huckleberry Hound row 7.

But times have changed and the Hanna-Barbera stable of characters are not as relevant as they were in my childhood! The children's section of Kings Dominion used to be called "The Happy Land of Hanna-Barbera!" It's now called "Nick Central" and more and more of the Hanna-Barbera stuff is being removed in favor of Nickelodeon themed attractions. At King's Island, KD's sister park in Ohio, this year will see the debut of an all new Nickelodeon Kids Area that completely wipes out their old Hanna-Barbera Land. I'm afraid the same will happen to the Virginia park in the next year or so. I have very many fond memories of the H-B gang at Kings Dominion.

Before they ride off into the sunset for good Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear and a few other Hanna-Barbera superstars are making one more appearance in the park in a very unique way. This summer Kings Dominion will be the new home of "The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera" ride, my all time favorite amusement park ride that debuted at Universal Studios Orlando in 1989 and resided there until 2003 when it was replaced by....a Nickelodeon ride!

It's not very often that a theme park attraction gets another life at another park, so I'm very excited to ride this ride again. It's a motion simulator ride, and Kings Dominion already has a dual-screen simulator theatre so it was probably at a low cost to add this attraction to their line-up.

I'm sure the pre-show to the original ride will be cut from the KD experience, but after waiting over an hour in the blazing Florida sun you were ushered into a small pre-show area where via video Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera briefly showed how their artist create animated films. They are currently working on Jetsons: The Movie, and we meet Elroy Jetson who tells us a little bit about their new movie. Then H-B resident villain Dick dastardly pops up with his side kick Mumbley and they protest that they are not staring in the next Hanna-Barbera production. Dick and Mumbley quickly hop into a computer generated rocket ship, kidnap Elroy and then take off. Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo step in, and promise their bosses that they'll get Elroy back safely with the help of the people in the audience!

At this point, the automatic doors to your left open up and everyone proceeds into a big room and grabs their own four-person rocket ship. (Kings Dominion's theatre is set up like a traditional movie theatre with rows of seats, but I suspect the effect will be just the same!) Your rocket ship is loaded into a large rubber band sling shot and you are catapulted into the cartoon world of Hanna-Barbera. Of course your seats motions match the action on the screen!

After a cloud of cartoon mist settles down, you come upon a spooky old castle as the Mystery Machine races by and bumps you off the road. Scooby and Shaggy are at the wheel of the van, and you follow them into the castle and through all sorts of dark passage ways and haunted rooms all the while chasing Dick dastardly and Elroy. After many obstacles, Dick flies his ship into a cartoon vortex and you are right behind him.

Suddenly you are chasing Dick, speeding along a barren desert. There are some mountains up ahead, as you approach the mountains the music starts to clue you in on where you are headed next. As you reach the top of the mountain and get a peek over it, the soundtrack is pumping the theme to "The Flintstones" are you are smack in the middle of Bedrock. Your ship heads straight for Fred in his Bronto-crain. Fred slides down the back of the dinosaurs tail and into his car and you're off on a wild car chase through Bedrock. Of course at this point in the ride, I was totally hooked and if I wasn't poured into the ride vehicle with the safety restraint digging into my gut I would have tried to jump out and stay in Bedrock.

After many great gags in Bedrock, you end up in Outer Space and the chase continues with The Jetsons. There is a trip through a space amusement park, including a ride on a roller coaster and finally the space police catch up with Dick and rescue Elroy who is reunited with his family and you the rider are thanked by Yogi and Boo-Boo and returned home!

What a great ride!!!

The Universal ride used to empty out into a great Animation Exhibit with lots of hands-on stuff about animation and great photo ops! Then there was a Hanna-Barbera gift shop where I spent much time and money!

Kings Dominion will no doubt just have the movie, but it will still be great to see it again! I was last on it in 2001! Make sure you check it out this summer.

Keep an eye out for two more articles I'm going to write about two of the greatest attractions at Kings Dominon that are no longer there and no where to be found on the internet: Yogi's Cave and Smurf Mountain!

Theological Discussion

As I was cleaning up the playroom yesterday I came across Elias' Fisher-Price Noah figure sitting in JoJo's clown car and thought it was kind of funny. For those of you not familiar with JoJo, she's a young clown who lives in Circus Town with all her little circus friends on the Disney Channel Preschool series JoJo's Circus. If you're not familiar with Noah then maybe you should find yourself a good Sunday School program!

Anywho, I saw Noah sitting in JoJo's car and thought it was pretty silly...a classic Bible character sitting in a neon pink car with eyeballs for headlights. But then I thought about it a little more...Doesn't it make perfect sense for Noah to consider driving a clown car!?! I mean, he had to build an ark big enough to hold all those different animals and you can fit a hilarious number of clowns in a clown car so I'm thinking you probably could have fit a staggering amount of animals in a clown car.
We went to the circus last year, and about 32 clowns got out of a little tiny clown car and then they put a sheet over the car and turned it into a zebra! So, there's no telling the powers of a clown car!

Oh yeah, there is the matter of the flood! Clown cars don't necessarily float. Well, then they'd need to get Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Herbie for something like that...I don't know, they'd probably have to have some meetings to work out all the details!

Joey's School is Dumb

If your child went to school in the school district we live in, you too would have a list of reasons why you believe the school is run by idiots. Here's the latest two additions to our ever-growing list:

1)They are watching "Roots" in class, with the N-word muted out! I can't begin to grasp how ridiculous that is! It's Roots not House Party! The word is used for impact and to illustrate a point...AND in a historical context. Have we become so P.C. that kids are supposed to think that slave masters referred to their slaves as "African Americans"? They might as well use "Song of the South" to teach about slavery, and they probably would if they could get their hands on a DVD of it. Since this is the same school that celebrated National Reading Day....READING DAY....by watching the movie "The Cat in the Hat", which is a movie not a book nor is it based on anything past the first three sentences of the book! Stupid school!

2) Joey got in trouble the other day for horsing around in the hallway between classes. Basically, a friend of his hit him with his binder and Joey pushed him back! A teacher saw this and wrote the two of them up. The wording in the write-up says: "Joey inappropriately touched another boy." Doesn't that sound a lot more sinister that what really happened. That makes it sound like Joey lured some younger kid to come behind the skating rink and drop his pants for a Darryl Strawberry rookie card! Now Joey has to live with this wording on his permanent record, he'll probably never get into Oral Roberts University like he wanted to, and he'll have to be a registered sex offender no matter where he goes to college! Stupid school!

Basically what I'm getting at is the school is dumb!

GOOD EATS: Cheeseburger in Paradise

Last night we checked out this new place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. It's a new restaurant chain co-owned by Outback Steakhouse and Margaritaville, we went to the one in York, PA there is also one in Pasadena, MD.

The place has a beachy-island theme without cramming the whole Jimmy Buffett thing down your throat the way Margaritaville does. They have live music every night, and really good burgers. I had the Cheeseburger in Paradise which is served (like the song says) with "lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French Fried potato, big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer!" Except I substituted a Diet Pepsi for my cold draft beer.

But let's just skip to the desert...they have Chocolate Nachos! These are chocolate and flour nachos fried and sweetened, then covered with chocolate sauce, diced strawberries (that looked like tomatoes,) and colored sprinkles and then served with three kinds of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dipping. Very unique and very tasty! Hats off to you Mr. Buffett for this wonderful creation!

Viewer Mail

How is Tanner doing?
The doctor did call the other day with results from all of Tanner's x-ray's and testing. No surprising, they can't find anything wrong with him! That's a good thing, but it continues to be frustrating that we can't get to the bottom of why Tanner spits up almost everything he eats and that he's gained very little weight in the past three months! Our next stop on this journey is an appointment with a GI specialist at Johns Hopkins sometime next month. I'll keep ya posted!

Where did the name ED SOUTH come from?
Good question! It all started back in 1991 when I was part of a "pirate" radio station that a friend of mine built in his attic. Since our operation was only questionably legal, we all came up with fake DJ names. At the time there were quite a few DJ's on the air with the last names of North and West...so I jokingly picked South. We did that radio station on-and-off for two years, and when I got involved with the radio station at college I used the name Mr. Ed, and that was pretty much the end of "Ed South."

In 1996 I wrote and produced a play called "Barn of Thought". The main character's name was Ken, but when I ended up playing the character on stage I decided to change his name to Ed and I remembered my "old" last name and "South" came along for the ride as well! A year later I started doing a public access TV show, and thought South sounded better than my real last name, so that's when I kind of adopted it as my stage name.

Nowadays "Ed South" has come in handy on the internet, where you need to protect yourself with a certain level of anonymity.

What's your favorite Disney movie?
If there was one movie I could name as my favorite Disney movie, then I probably wouldn't love Disney as much as I do. There are so many great Disney movies, and so many of those that hold a special place in my heart that I can't just name one.

First of all, there are two types of Disney films: Animated and Live Action!
I really love just about all of the animated films that Walt Disney Feature Animation has created over the past 70-some years. I could probably single out The Little Mermaid as my favorite animated film because it came out when I was younger and it was really the first "great" animated film released during my life time. However, I also think Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Lilo & Stitch are some of the greatest movies ever made. Of all the animated films Disney has made, the only four that I really don't like that much are: The Sword in the Stone, The Black Cauldron, Atlantis, andBrother Bear.

When it comes to live action films, some of my all-time favorite movies are the Disney comedies that came out shortly after Walt's death in 1966. When The Walt Disney Company was suddenly without their leader, they played it safe and produced movies that were very close to the formula that the studio found success with during Walt's reign. The results are some FANTASTIC movies like: Gus, The World's Greatest Athlete, Blackbeard's Ghost, Snowball Express, The Strongest Man in the World, Superdad, and The Barefoot Executive.

There are also TONS of great classic films that Walt Disney himself produced, not to mention great contemporary films, including three of my absolute favorites: Cheetah (1989), Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991), andHoney, I Blew Up the Kid (1992).


Aren't you glad you asked!?

There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

How much do you think it cost for my wife and I and our two older children to eat lunch at the food court in the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History? Jennifer, Joey and I each had a soda, a sandwich and fries, and a cookie. Elias had chicken tenders and fries. The grand total....$57.04!!!! That's American Dollars!!!! Fifty seven dollars for a family of four to eat at a food court!

Some of the other highlights from our trip yesterday to the National Smithsonian in D.C.:
At the Air & Space Museum, Elias surprised us all when he went up to a picture of Saturn and said, "Saturn has three rings around it!" We're not quite sure where this knowledge came from, but I suspect Little Einsteins had something to do with it.

One of our favorite things on display at the Air & Space Museum is a box of Red Barron frozen pizza. Elias, however, really enjoyed seeing all the big planes.

At the Museum of Natural History they have a diorama of a Caveman Burial. At this exhibit, we witnessed a woman praying for the soul of the caveman who died several million years ago. She then proceeded to talk to the cavemen and tried to give them all a high-five! We quickly gathered the children up and moved to the next gallery, trying not to make eye contact.

By the end of the day everyone was pooped!

Too Much Fish, Too Much Cheese

As an unofficial historian of the McDonald's menu, I would like to submit the following candidate as the most disgusting item Ronald has ever offered us. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Double Filet-o-Fish! My friends, that is too much fish to bite into at one time. A hammer-head shark doesn't want that much fish in his mouth at once! Who is eating a Double Filet-o-Fish!? Who has decided that they want to consume twice as much frozen immatation fish patties as before?! Just thinking of all the extra tarter sauce is making my arteries harden!

I've never been much of a student of the Burger King menu, but lately they've been making many additions to their "most disgusting list." They have something now called The Cheesey Double Cheeseburger which is a double cheeseburger with american cheese, pepper jack cheese....AND....if that wasn't enough....a substance known as creamy cheese sauce! Does creamy cheese sauce sound like a good idea alone, yet alone on top of two burgers, two slices of cheese, and condiments?!? It should be called the "I don't Give A Crap Burger!"

Whereas McDonald's tries to convince you their food is good for you, Burger King doesn't even try. Burger King's next TV commercial should just be me sitting on the sofa wearing an old Britney Spears t-shirt and eating French Toast Sticks dipped in Creamy Cheese Sauce. I don't know what that's supposed to mean!?!

McDonald's is now printing the nutritional information on the sides of the cartons their food comes in. As my stepson Joey pointed out the other night, that doesn't really seem necessary when you have to wipe away grease in order to read the information!

Tanner Got X-rayed; Elias Saw Elephants

Yesterday was the big day for Tanner to get his X-rays done! The plan was for me to take Tanner to the hospital today but Jennifer ended up switching around her work schedule so that she was able to take him, she really wanted to be there with him.

Tanner did really well. He had to drink a bottle full of some liquid called "berrium" or something like that and then after it worked it's way through his system he had all sorts of x-rays done. Luckily Tanner and the berrium cooperated, and the whole ordeal only took two hours! They had originally told us it could take up to SIX hours!!!

Of course, there were no doctors present, just technicians, so we'll have to wait a couple more days to find out the results. Tanner is doing fine though, he's very happy and content and his spitting up does seem to be a little less frequent!

While Tanner was at the hospital with Mom all morning, I took the opportunity to take Elias to Mister Ed's Elephant Museum in nearby Orrtanna, PA.

As the name implies, this place was pretty cool! It's a very small museum of this guy's enormous collection of everything elephants! There's just ALOT of elephants!! But don't feel left out! I snapped a bunch of pictures for my bloggy friends!

I love these kind of little homemade roadside attractions. It's like having a little South of the Border in our very own backyard! (If our backyard was 47 miles away!)

I've actually wanted to go to the Elephant Museum for quite sometime. In 1997, I went camping in Gettysburg with some friends of mine and we saw the brochure for this place and we really wanted to go! However, our tourist dollars were instead lured to Land of Little Horses where we saw pig races and a horse that could count. Memories!

Getting back to our day....could it have been any nicer outside!?! After our tour of the Elephant Musuem, Elias and I met up with mommy and Baby Tanner and had lunch at The Avenue in Gettysburg (FANTASTIC Cream of Crab soup!) then walked down the street for ice cream at a great little ice cream place that has outdoor seating! It was a wonderful day of great weather, good eats, and 6000 elephants!

Tanner Update

Tanner did not have his radiology work done today as planned. After we starved him for four hours, as instructed, and waited in the waiting room for a half hour past our appointment we were told they couldn't do the work today.

It turns out Tanner's new doctor had told Jen he was sending Tanner for an "Upper GI." So Jen called and made the appointment for an Upper GI. It also turns out the doctor had also wanted something else done that he hadn't told Jen, so of course she didn't mention it...and this other procedure takes SIX HOURS!!!!!!!! So we gotta go back Monday morning and try it all over again!!! Plus Jen has to work Sunday night, so I'm going to have to go do it myself since she'll be no good without sleep after working all weekend! I'll be taking a book...and hopefully I'll get a lunch break or something. (The cafeteria at the hospital is some GOOD EATS!!!)

Tanner News

We finally got Tanner to a new doctor yesterday! He had been seeing our family doctor but we were unhappy with his response to Tanner's several problems. The new doctor answered some questions for us and is taking some action!

Since he was born 11 weeks ago, he has always spit up pretty much everything he eats. As a result, Tanner has not gained much weight. Our old doctor just dismissed the spitting up as normal baby spit up, and wasn't bothered by the minimal weight gain because he was gaining weight, even though it was an ounce or so every couple of weeks.

Yesterday, this new doctor told us that Tanner's weight is way off for what he should weigh at his age, and that the spit up issue could be something serious that needs to be corrected. So, they are sending him for some x-ray type stuff to get a good look into his chest, lungs, and tummy and see what's going on. So even though we still don't have any answers, we are happy that it looks like we're on the right road to getting all these issues taken care of!

Read on....

Elias The Firefighter

Elias loves reading about firefighters and fire trucks, and he loves to play fire fighter too. Elias was very excited last night when a large package was delivered with his name on it. Jen and I were both very confused as the package was from Amazon.com and we hadn't ordered anything. Inside was a very nice fire fighter dress up set from his Uncle Charlie in Texas (my brother).

This set is much nicer than the one I bought Elias for $4.00 at KB Toys! It has a very nice helmet and jacket, along with an axe and a radio that makes noises. It also has a neat hose and a fire extinguisher. Elias loves it all! He wore it for the rest of the night as he put out fires all through the house, and tried to take apart the dish washer with his axe. At end of the night, Elias was sad that I wouldn't let him take the fire extinguisher to bed with him!

More NASCAR Cracks!

Today as I was out and about, I was behind a car with a NASCAR license plate frame. The frame featured #88, Dale Jarrett! Come on...Dale Jarrett!? I'm pretty sure they made that up! How many Dale's and Jarrett's do they already got driving around those NASCAR tracks!?! That's two much of a NASCAR name to be a coincidence! Either that's not his real name or his no-doubt unwed, Winston-smoking mother named him that and put him to bed every night with a steering wheel in his hands as he lay in his crib with a giant Tide logo on the side of it! Dale Jarrett...Give me a break! That's like the WWE introducing their new wrestler, Rock Hogan!

I also saw a billboard today for the Lady and the Tramp DVD. Along with the obligatory picture of Lady and Tramp eating their spaghetti dinner while the Italian stereotypes serenade them, at the bottom of the billboard it has the "Rated G" logo and underneath that it says: "For ratings information go to filmratings.com"
Who exactly needs clarification on why Lady and the Tramp is rated G? For that matter, any movie rated G! So then when you go to filmratings.com and type in "Lady and the Tramp" it just says "Rated G". Thanks MPAA! That was the most unnecessary internet trip since I typed in the code from my Taco Bell cup!

But since I was at filmratings.com, I thought I'd share my two favorite ratings explanations!

Title: Team America World Police (2004)
Rating: R
Rating Reason: Rated R for graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language - all involving puppets

and

Title: Twister (1996)
Rating: PG-13
Rating Reason: Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of very bad weather

(I admit, when I was younger I used to sneak copies of "Nasty Weather Illustrated" under my mattress!)

So, I'm taking it upon myself to re-rate Lady and the Tramp PG-13 for suggestive pasta eating, loud barking, and intense depiction of dog pound.

Greatest Cable Channel Ever!

Yesterday at my mother's house I discovered that her cable tv line up included the Walt Disney World On Demand Channel. A feeling of pure joy filled my soul as I made this discovery. I then proceeded to ignore my mother and children for the better part of the next two hours while I soaked in all the goodness Walt Disney World On Demand had to offer. One of the programs is called "Top 7 Things to Do in Walt Disney World." This show is played on one of the in-house channels on the TV's in the hotel rooms on Disney World property. When we were in Disney last July for nine days, in all honesty I probably watched the show between 15 to 20 times! And yet, I was still completely captivated by it again yesterday! That is probably almost as sad, but not quite, as my numerous viewings of the infomercial for the Magic Bullet. Man, I want one of those! That salsa they make looks really good!

While we're talking about crappy TV...I'm happy to see reruns of The Simple Life on E! (Weeknights 6:30p) I'm not sure what it is about that show that I haven't got sick and tired of yet...Probably my high threshold for crap! Also worth mentioning, on VH-1 this week, they are doing "I Love Toys," which is their "I Love the 80's" format but it's all about 100 Great toys! It's fun! That's on, like, 32 times a day, everyday, all week!

Oscar Fever!

The Oscar Awards are tonight and I couldn't really care less. However, I do have one comment to make about the awards. I don't care how much you liked Brokeback Mountain or how good it was...Ang Lee should not win best director!!! Ang Lee still needs to be held accountable for making "Hulk"...one of the worst movies ever made!!!! That movie was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad that I'm still talking about it three years later! Ang Lee must be made to sit out at least one Academy Awards show before he's allowed back in!! I mean the Hulk fought giant mutated poodles! Poodles!!!! Gay cowboys should be fighting poodles, not the Hulk. Oh my god, that movie was so bad!!!

Here's one cool thing about the Oscars this year: Matt Dillon is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Crash. I'm sure Crash is a fine movie, I don't even remember it being in theatres, but the great thing is Matt Dillon is nominated for acting's highest award the very same year he appeared in Herbie Fully Loaded! How great is that! Herbie was SUCH a good movie! Don't get me started on Herbie Fully Loaded!
I think Disney should rerelease the DVD to say "co staring 2005 Academy Award Nominee Matt Dillon." Props to you, Mr. Dillon. By the way, he's really good in Herbie too!!! I wonder if Herbie will be a presenter at the awards tonight!? He could squirt oil on the loser's feet!!

I WANT THIS CAR!

How cool is this car!? I'm not one to drive down the road and see a car and say, "Man, I want that car," but If I saw this car driving down the road I'm quite sure I would follow the person home, hide in their bushes and them clobber them with a golf club, take their keys and the car and drive to Mexico! (Too much information!?)
You can win this car in some contest that the Disney Visa Card is having...but I like my plan better! We've got a Mickey Mouse TV with big ears on the top, a Mickey Mouse toaster that plays M-I-C-K-E-Y when your toast pops up, and a Mickey Mouse bathroom with all kinds of Mickey stuff...but a Mickey Mouse Car!!! I'm sorry but that's just about as awesome as awesome gets!

Speaking of cars, this summer in an extended moment of delusion we seriously almost bought a 1963 VW Beetle with the hope of painting it like Herbie The Love Bug. I guess that kind of behavior isn't too surprising from me, but the fact that I had my wife on board was pretty cool! After we had the car painted, I was convinced I was going to rig it up so that it would squirt oil out of the tailpipe...in case anyone tried to kidnap us, Herbie could squirt oil on their foot and the bad guy would be real mad!

Move Over Oprah!

Today we present, Elias' Book Club! Elias was jealous that Oprah got to dictate what books would be best sellers, so he asked me if he could use the enormous influence of The Wonderful World of Blog to start his own Book Club.
Actually, it's just an excuse to post really cute pictures of my son.

Every week or so, Elias seems to really take a liking to a particular book. This week it's A Bird and His Worm by James Kaczman. It's about a bird who does not like to fly and the adventures he has trying to get south for the winter! Cute book!